Machinery for dressing staves



U TE STATES PATENT OFFIC.

JOHN H. LESTER, OF NEI/V LONDON, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINERY FOR DRESSING STAVES.

Specification of Letters Fatent No. 4,510, dated May 9, 1946.

To all 'whom 'it may conce/rn v Be it kno-wn that I, JOHN H. LESTER, of New London, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Dressing and Jointing Staves foi' Barrels, Ca'sks, and other Coopers Ware, and that the followingl is a full, clear, and eX- act description of the principle or character thereof which distinguishes them from all other things before known, and of the manner of making, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation; Fig. 3,`a longitudinal vertical section; and Fig. 4, an end elevation.

` The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The dressing and ointing of rived staves by machinery are operations which have heretofore presented much difhculty and of the various attempts to attain these important ends by means of rotating planes, none have, so far as I am informed, been successful. The ditiiculty arises from the fact of the uneven and crooked condition of the rived bolts which must be dressed with the grain of the wood and of equal thickness; and the necessity of jointing the curved edges of the staves to give the bulge to the barrel or cask by a continuous movement. The dressing o-f staves has been essayed by two rotating planes, one to plane or dress the concave, and the other the convex surface-the planes being placed one forward of the other, so that the staves pass from the one to the other; but in this there is no method by which the planes can adapt themselves to the bends and crooks of the bolts. Attempts have also been made to joint the edges with rotating planes by placing the stave, after being dressed, on a reciprocating carriage provided with guides to cause the rotatingplanes to approach toward and recede from each other to give the required bulge to the staves.

The improvements which I have made, and which I wish to secure by Letters Patent, remove these difficulties, and consist, first, in hanging the two rotating planes, one above the other, in a vertically sliding frame to receive the bolt from the feeding ory guide and pressure rollers and pass them the two rotating planes (n, o), and to guide to other rollers which deliver, or conduct them to the jointing operation, the frame sliding up and down to adapt the planes to the bends or crooks of the bolts, the sliding of this frame being effected by two sets of rollers, hung in the frame, o-ne forward and the other back of the rotating planes. A nd seeond, in giving to the frames in which the Jointing cutter heads are hung and run reciprocating movements toward and from each other b means of cam grooves, eccentrics, cran is, or other analogous device as the staves are fed forward by a positive motion, the continuous feeding, and the re# ciprocating motion of the cutter heads being made to correspond.

In the accompanying drawings (a) repre@ sents a frame properly adaptedto the various parts of the machine, and (b) an endless chain or belt passing around two drums or rollers (c, c) and o-ver a bed or platform (el), and driven by a belt (e) from a wheel (f) on the shaft (g). This chain is pro-V vided with two projections or tl'anches (li.) placed at distances apart equal to the length of a stave, for the purpose of feedingin the staves and forcing them through one after another, between three sets of bed rollers tion of the bolt, in consequence of the fre-V quent bends and crooks in the bolts, for ifv there were but two sets on the presentation of a crooked bolt the end would be carried into one or the other of the rotating planes, and it is parther necessary that the last upper roller, or that nearest the planes, should be farther from the middle one than the first, or pressed down with a greater weight to insure tlie proper presentation of the bolt when the two ends are bent up, for the end which is presented to the planes must be in the proper line. The bed rollers (i, z', i) run in permanent bearings and the upper ones (j, j, j) are weighted in the usual Amanner of pressure rollers. As the bolt leaves I the last of these rollers, it passes between two small rollers (lo, k) hung in the sliding `frame (Z) of the rotating planes, the under one in permanent, and the upper one in sliding' boXes and ressed down b means the sliding frame up and down to cause the planes to follow the crooks and bends of the bolts. These rotating planes are constructed in manner similar to the well known planing machines, except that the edges of the planes instead of being straight and parallel with the shaft, are curved those of the under one (n) to dress the concave, and those of the upper one to dress the convex sur face of the stave; they are driven by belts (g, r) from wheels (t) on the shaft (g). The sliding frame (Z) in which these planes are hung slides vertically in the main frame of the machine and is balanced with a lever and counter weight (p) to facilitate its movement up and down. On the other side of the planes there are two other small rollers (u, u) for a like purpose, and similar to the two above described, except that the upl per one o-f this set instead of being a weighted pressure roller runs in permanent boxes, when the machine is intended for one thickness of staves, but when it is intended for various thicknesses, then it, as well as the upper rotating plane must be provided with sliding boxes and set screws.

W'hen the dressed stave is delivered from the planes it passes between two sets of carrying rollers (u, 0) and (w, w), made concave and convex to lit the dressed surfaces of the staves, the lower ones (fv, o) ruiming in permanent boxes, and the upper ones in sliding boxes provided with set screws (m), and resting on spiral or other springs (y), by which they are borne up to the screws. These rollers present the staves to the action of two rotating heads (a, a), provided with cutters on their faces, and near to their peripheries for the purpose of roughly shaping the edges of the staves preparatory to jointing. These rotating cutter heads are on the ends of horizontal shafts (a, af), inclined as represented in the drawings, and driven by belts (2)', 0') from wheels (e', f') on the shaft (g'). As the staves are wider in the middle than at the ends, it is necessary that the cutter wheels move toward and from each other as the stave passes between them, and this is effected by having the shafts of the cutter wheels hung in frames (t', t) that slide on rods (2, i'), (or Von ways) with a stud from the underside that runs in a cam groove (c') (in manner well known) cut in a roller on a shaft (76") that makes one revolution during the passage of each stave, motion being communicated by a belt (Z) from a pulley (m) on the shaft (g'), so that the cutter wheels are nearest together as the end of the stave is presented; they are thengradually separated as the stave progresses toward the middle, and then gradually approach as the stave passes from the middle to the end. Instead of these cam grooves, eccentrics, cranks, or other analogous de- :bevel wheels (2)', 72') on their arbors and on ahorizontal shaft (Q) which receives motion by a belt (r'), from a pulley (8') on the shaft (g'). From these elliptical rollers the staves pass between two other horizontal rollers (t', 25') and are presented t0 the action of two cutter wheels u'), on vertical shafts (o', 0'), drivenby Vbelts (10',

fw'), from wheels (,'fv) on the shaft (g').

These cutter' wheels (or cutter heads) give the last dressing to the joints of the staves, and the frames in which Vthey are hung move toward and from each other in manner similar'to the rotating heads (e, c), be-

fore described, and by the same mechanical .means, andthe bevel is given to the edges of the `staves byeither inclining fthe shafts edgese of the cutters. the staves pass between two` horizontal rolliers (y', y'), then between two other guide elliptical rollers (a, a), made and operated Ain manner similar to the rollers (0', 0') before described, and are then delivered by another set of horizontal rollers (a", a").

The machine is driven by a; belt from some `first moved communicating motion to the shaft (g), and from this to the shaft (g') by a cross belt (6"). The cutter heads and the elliptical guide rollers can be provided with set screws and slides for the purpose of adapting them to various widths of staves, in manner well known to persons sk1lled 1n the artof constructmgmachinery.

`To insure the accurate working of the various parts of the machine instead of eommunicatmg motion to the feeding chain or belt, the cam grooves for giving the reciprocating motion to the j ointing cutter heads and to the guide elliptical rollers, by belts, this may be done by cog-gearing or cogged chains.

It will be obvious that instead of dress- 4ing and liointing the staves in one machine,

and continuously, these two operations may be separated into two machines by provid ing the jointing part with a feeding chain or belt in manner similar to that described above; and when this is done, I contemplate carrying the feeding chain entirely through the jointing machine with projecting {ianches as above described at such distances apart as to separate the staves sufficiently to finish their ends. The elliptical rollers for guiding the staves in the operation of joint* ing may be eccentric instead 0f elliptical 'by giving them double the number of revo- `of the cutter heads, lor beveling" the cutting y From these cutters a lutions, the object being to adapt their form to the bulge of the staves. And I Wish it to be distinctly understood that the staves may be jointed by means of one set of cutter heads alone instead of tWo as described, but in a less perfect maner.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Hanging the tworotating planes in a vertical frame which slides freely up and down to adapt the planes, to the crooks and bends of the Wood, as herein described.

2. I claim the employment of the tWo sets of rollers, or either of them, running in the vertically sliding frame in combination With the rotating planes, for the purpose of guiding the rotating planes and adapting them to the dressing of crooked or bent staves, as herein described.

3. I claim in combination With the rotating planes, the arrangement of the three sets of rollers that guide and conduct the bolt to the rollers and rotating planes in the sliding frame the set nearest the vsliding frame having the preponderance of the one that first receives the bolt, as described, for the purpose of properly presenting crooked or bent bolts to the action of the planes, as described.

4. I claim giving to the cutter heads for jointing the staves a reciprocating movement toward and from each other in combination With the continuous feeding in and movement of the staves through the ma* chine, as described.

5. And nally, I claim the employment of the elliptical or eccentric guide rollers in combination With the cutter heads, as herein described.

JOI-IN H. LESTER.

Witnesses:

C. W. M. KELLER, A. P. BROWNE. 

